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Saturday, August 31, 2013

Just a quick post to let you know that I have lost my mind and decided to join The 31 Day Challenge starting tomorrow. Why lost my mind might you ask? Well for one thing it means that I will be double posting on a lot of days to keep up with the challenge as well as polish/product reviews. If that isn't enough, I will be on vacation for a week next month, so yeah... lost my mind and I will probably fail miserably to keep up, but I'll give it my best and complete it (at some point)!

I did this challenge when I first started blogging back in 2011 and learned so much. I really credit that first challenge for getting me started on nail art. At the time I did it on my own and took about 3 months to complete. I have been wanting to do challenge again and see my progress. Following along with some super talented ladies is just icing on the cake and an opportunity that I cannot pass up...

I recently had the pleasure of doing an impromptu nail polish swap with the lovely Mari of muxe.net. A few of the El Corazon Eggs of Wild Birds polishes were on my lemming/wish list and I had mentioned this to her. They are not readily available in her area so I didn't expect her to ever find them, but she happened to come across them and snatched them up for me. A huge thanks to Mari for squashing one of my big lemmings. If you have not visited Mari's her blog yet, you are missing out on gorgeous swatches and nail art, so go check her out!

For today's manicure, I thought these pretty little birds would feel right at home on a polish inspired by bird eggs...

Friday, August 30, 2013

In addition to the Cashmeres and Satins collections, this year Zoya release more Fall PixieDust shades. I don't know about you, but I'm over the top, can't stop staring, don't want to take them off, so thrilled about these. Zoya sure has that magic PixieDust formula down flat! Each one is more beautiful than the next and I'm having a hard time picking favorites, so take a look and which ones catch your eye...

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Ever since this OMG Viper Louboutin Manicure, I've gotten a lot of questions regarding the removal of it. I've done a tutorial on how to create a Louboutin manicure, but never realized so many of you would be worried about removing it. To save myself from having to explain, I thought it would be easier to just show you...

Supplies:

Acetone or polish remover (I use my own remover which just happens to be in a pure acetone bottle that is in this photo)

Cotton or felt squares. Felt is a bit sturdier and what I always use for my polish removal. You can see how I make my felt pieces here...

Wrap a piece of felt around an orange stick and place underneath the nail. Hold it there for a few seconds to dissolve the polish and then gently rub back and forth to remove the polish. Re-position the orange stick to a clean area on the felt (or take a new piece) and repeat as necessary.

Optional: As you can see the nail is pretty much clean, but if there are some spots you can't get to with the orange stick, take a brush soaked in acetone and run along the underside of the nail.

All done! Nakie nails :)

Although there are a lot of photos here, it really is fairly easy to remove the polish under the nail. I might add it is much easier than removing glitter off the top of the nail ;)

When doing a Louboutin manicure, make sure to use a non-staining red polish. As you can imagine, it would be much trickier to remove if the polish stained the skin...

Okay, I think that about covers it, I hope you find this useful. Let me know if I missed something or you have questions!!

P.S. The green polish is Zoya Giovanna, the last thing I swatched last night. The red is OPI Danke-Shiny Red. Totally unintentional, but looks like a perfect Holiday Louboutin mani. I'll have to keep that in mind when December rolls around :)

Today I would like to show you the Zoya Satins Collection which consists of five beautiful metallic shades and one flakie topper. This is the second half of Zoya's Fall collection. The first half named Cashmeres can be seen in yesterday's post and contains six gorgeous creams. These metallic shades remind me of brilliant gemstones such as topaz, amethyst, sapphire and emerald...

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

I am so not ready, but it is time to show you some beautiful Fall collections. Starting today with the Zoya Cashmeres collection. It contains six cream shades that are perfect for the upcoming season. Did I mention I'm not ready for Fall yet? I've already showed you my nail art with a few of these and trust me, you'll be seeing more of them...

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Whenever my nails reach a certain length, I start dreaming of Louboutin manis. Although this one was not inspired by a particular pair of shoes, but rather by the fact that I was unwilling to part with the Viper nail strips mani quite yet and was itching for a Louboutin look...

Monday, August 26, 2013

I got the opportunity to try some fun nail strips from OMG Nail Strips. They have lots of fun patterns to choose from and I got to try two of them, the first on that I'll show you today is named Viper. Since I have been on an animal print kick lately, I wanted to try this beautiful snake skin pattern...

Sunday, August 25, 2013

It is once again that day of the week when I take on a Sunday Stamping challenge in the group Adventures in Stamping. Today's theme is to stamp over a nude base. The open ended theme really had me stumped with no idea what I was going to do until I sat down to do it. Then this happened...

Saturday, August 24, 2013

So I admit it, I am nowhere near ready for Fall to get here, but I am starting to get into the Fall colors. It could be due to all the pretty Fall collections that I have started to swatch. Stay tuned for lots and lots of swatches to come. Today though, I would like to show you a manicure that really hits the spot for my current color mood...

Friday, August 23, 2013

I'm not sure what has gotten into me, but something certainly has since this is my second tiger manicure this month. I got some fun neon nail studs for review from the Born Pretty Store and they really brought out my wild side. I wanted to pair them with an equally bright and matching color.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

I recently received some Incoco nail polish strips for review and I would like to show you one of the styles that I got today. This design is called Tribal Dance. It features a fun mix of patterns in a metallic silver and fuschia color...

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Yesterday I showed you a fun dotted manicure and promised to show you how I took it a step further. I wanted to pair the dots of the manicure with the dotty trees on the Messy Mansion "in the forest" plate. I imagine that if there was a cotton candy tree, this is how it would look at night...

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

I've got a fun dotticure to show you today. This is something simple and fun that I created while swatching the Nicole by OPI Tink collection this weekend. I feel that it is a bit outside of my usual style (whatever that may be), but I just love it. It is so fun and happy and just wait till I show you what else I did with it...

Monday, August 19, 2013

Today I have the Nicole by OPI Tink collection to show you. These shades were inspired by Disney's Tinker Bell and give us lots of bright bold creams and a sparkly glitter topper. When samples were mailed out, two of the shades were on back order so I waited to track them down at my local store and show you the whole collection at once. These are perfect summery shades...

Sunday, August 18, 2013

I got lucky with this week's Sunday Stamping theme of no restrictuion, free for all, anything goes because I had no time to create a new mani. Instead I would like to show you one that I wore last week while swatching the Barielle Summer Fun Collection. Since it includes stamping, I will consider today's challenge as met...

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Today I'm excited to show you a manicure that I created with the new birds plate from Messy Mansion. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to review three Messy Mansion stamping plates and I plan to show each of them separately, one manicure at a time. Starting out with the bird plate, I was immediately drawn to the feather pattern and knew that I had to pair it with a real feather...

DS Pewter, a matte textured metallic with deep silver ore, will launch simultaneously with DS Lapis, a deep sapphire blue with a textured matte finish. Designer Series by OPI offers a mosaic of 11 glistening shades and a high-shine top coat, including these two new stunning hues. DS Pewter and DS Lapis can be used without DS Top Coat to achieve an alternate matte look.

“Diamond-dust gives nails the perfect touch of glamour and can instantly transform any look. These two new shades are inspired by raw granite – the diamond’s edgy cousin – and we’re excited to broaden the range of color in the Designer Series line,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “These lacquers incorporate rich pigments with brilliant shine, to create a bold yet elegant statement. DS Pewter and DS Lapis are the ideal high-fashion, festive accessory.”

Designer Series by OPI nail lacquer shades each feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in application. DS Raw Granite lacquers should be worn without top coat for a matte finish. DS Pewter and DS Lapis will be available beginning September 2013 at professional salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com for $12.50 ($14.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer.

ABOUT OPI As the world leader in the professional nail care industry, OPI is committed to providing high-quality products and services to both salons and their customers, along with a focus on industry safety and innovation. Known for its exceptional formula, fashionable colors and iconic names, OPI’s heavily-pigmented lacquers are super rich, long-lasting and chip-resistant – offering an affordable luxury to consumers. OPI nail lacquer is available in over 200 shades. Each lacquer features OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in application. Currently, OPI is available in over 100 countries and retails a full line of professional items, including nail treatments, finishing products, lotions, manicure/pedicure products, files, tools, gels and acrylics.

** Disclaimer: All information and images in this post provided by the manufacturer or their PR **

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Everyone is starting to show off the new Fall collections and I'm making a desperate attempt to hang on to Summer just a bit longer by showing you this beautiful Barielle Summer Fun collection from last year. It features soft creams that are perfect for the sunny weather that I'm hoping will be sticking around despite the rain we had yesterday...

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Today I have a post for you that is a few months overdue! I delayed swatching these thermal beauties after breaking my nails so I'm super excited to finally be able to show them to you now. Ichor is a thermal color changing topper by InDecisive Nail Lacquer that is available in blue, purple, red and black. They can be layered over different base colors to create fun effects. I chose to layer them over white to show their "purest" form. I couldn't help but wear each of them for a day or two while swatching. They are just so fun...

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Hi Everyone! Today I have a review of Born Pretty Store Gel-off clips to share with you. I was so excited to try these clips because I love glitter, but hate messing with the foil removal method. Since I often add glitter later on to my manicure, I don't always think ahead to use of the peel-off base coat and end up having to remove glitter the hard way. These Gel-off clips seemed like the perfect solution for removing glitter and teased me with the promise of "no need for foils" right on the package.

The package comes with five clips. Except for the thumb clip which was too large for me, the rest of the clips fit well. They are held together by a small black rubber band which is a bit flimsy, but usable. I wish that they would have provide a bit more pressure since these felt loose...

Monday, August 12, 2013

Hi Everyone! Today my nails are appearing the lovely blog The Clockwise Nail Polish! I have been admiring Cristina's manicures for a while and I'm so honored that she asked me to guest post for her. As fellow Adventures in Stamping members, I definitely wanted to feature stamping in my manicure along with these cute little stamped decals. For more details on the manicure head over to The Clockwise Nail Polish...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

Sunday, August 11, 2013

I'm going to try to keep this post brief because it is starting to get light outside and I still have not gone to bed. I had four hours of sleep last night followed by a very long day and when I got home at 3 am today this is what I decided to do instead of going to bed. I've had this idea for today's Sunday Stamping challenge in my head all day and it had to be done. The challenge today is to stamp with multiple colors on one image...

Friday, August 9, 2013

I'm not sure what it is that compels me to incorporate studs into stamping, but I've attempted to do it again. While I have already shown you some of the round studs from the Winstonia nail stud wheel, today I would like to show you the larger hex pieces which I have been eyeing since I first got these studs. Of course I paired them with a matching hex stamping pattern...

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Hi there! Today I have another Ruby Wing beauty to share with you! I just adore these solar changing polishes during the summer. We've had some gorgeous sunny days around here and what better way to enjoy them than staring at your nails as they change colors back and forth. This little beauty even glows under black light so it is like three colors in one. Something for every occasion...

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Hi Everyone! The lovely Ariel of Lacquer: The Best Medicine asked me to guest post on her blog while she is diligently studying for med school! Flashbacks of my own school days aside, I am so excited for the honor to guest post on her blog, so head on over to Lacquer: The Best Medicine for more photos and details on this wild manicure...

Monday, August 5, 2013

If you follow me on instagram, then you may have already seen a sneak peak of this manicure. I'm not in the habit of giving sneak peaks, but I'm just a bit a lot hooked on instagram right now and it makes it so easy to share even when I don't have time to process all the photos or do a full write up. Now I'm not even sure why I resisted for so long. Sidetrack aside though, I got the most perfect stamping gold polish as an unexpected gift from a friend and I was so excited to try it out...

Sunday, August 4, 2013

It has been weeks since the last time I participated in a Sunday Stamping challenge in Adventures in Stamping. I missed lots of fun challenges while waiting for my nails to grow out and I'm really excited to be back to stamping. The theme for today is to use a plate ending in the number eight. Leave it to me to come back on an easy challenge...

Friday, August 2, 2013

I've got something a little different to show you today. At the recommendation of a gel-loving friend, I purchased a NaiLuv kit at Costco for $30. I had been considering getting an LED light and a few gel polishes for myself and the price was just right. Now don't panic, I'm not switching to gels. I can't commit to a single color or nail design for that long. I got this because as much as I love doing manicures, I don't care much for pedicures. That is not to say that I don't want my toes to look beautifully polished, I just don't want to have to do them too often. Here is where I'm hoping gels will be the answer for having beautifully polished, long lasting pedicures...

The kit comes with a battery operated LED light, a cleanser, bonder, base/top coat, 5 gel shades, polish remover and instructions. All that and a side of fries for just 30 bucks. Everything you need to get started in the gel world. Just kidding on the fries though, please don't go to Costco and ask for fries to go with your NaiLuv kit...

Thursday, August 1, 2013

My nails are starting to get to a reasonable for me swatching length and I'm so excited to get back to showing you all the pretty polishes. I'd like to start today, with the OPI Neon Revolution mini kit. It features a white base, four neon minis and a top coat. I think neons are such a fun treat for the summer and I'm quite happy to keep wearing these and delaying fall as much as possible...

About Me

I am a self proclaimed craft nerd. I love all things crafty and will try just about any of it. Favorite hobbies include carving candles, decorating cakes, and making jewelry. In my free time, I love to play with nail polish! Questions/comments? Feel free to contact me at angalek@gmail.com